Grenada

The said Charles Meyers being duely sworn on the holy Evangelists deposeth that on or about the 20^th. of September last in the night time Paschal Bonavitta owner and as this deponent believes principal Commander of a certain Schooner, together with one Joseph White a Bermudian American & several other armed men, landed out of the abovementioned Schooner in a part of the said Island called Man of War Bay. there by force of Arms seized a Schooner belonging to Cap^t. Wilkinson & carried off from said Meyers & Kellys Plantation, Thirty seven Negros, the property of said Meyers & Henry Kelly & two Carib Indians born in the Island of St Vincents & landed the said Negros, and Carib Indians in the Island of Trinidada, that therefore he the said Meyers, came to Grenada to lay his complaint before His Excellency Lord Macartney, The Governor of Grenada, & Tobago; that the said Lord Macartney ordered a Sloop of War then lying in the Road called the Favorite Commanded by Cap^t William Fooks, to go to Trinidada with dispatches from the said Lord Macartney to the Governor of Trinidada in order to claim the restitution of the said slaves & Carib Indians and that by the said Lord Macart­neys orders, he the said Meyers went on board the Favorite & proceeded in her to Trinidada, where he was informed that the said Paschal Bonavitta had arrived some time before, that he had landed the Slaves, sold some of them, (six in number,) to the Priest at Port d' espagne, had made a present of one Negro Woman & two Children to the Gov­ernor of Trinidada, & that the remainder were then working at a Plantation in the Neigh­bourhood belonging to one Vidal & the said Paschal Bonavitta in partnership, except the two Caribs which were detained by Paschal on board Captain Wilkinsons Schooner, which the said Paschal had fitted out as a Privateer after he had brought her into Trinidada. That the said Meyers being brought before the Governor did claim the said Slaves, that the Governor Emanuel Falquez said they never had been brought to Trinidada, to which the said Meyers answered that he knew they were there, that A Ne­gro woman & two children part of those stolen by Paschal Bonavitta from Tobago, were seen that day in the Governors house, that the Priest had purchased some others, & that the rest were at the above mentioned Vidal's. To which the Governor replied that he had a mind to put him the said Meyers in Irons, but that if they were at Trinidada, he would endeavour to find them out & seize them for His Catholic Majestys use together with the Schooner abovementioned That thereupon, He the said Meyers, said that all he desired was to be allowed to go to Vidals and to bring the Slaves before the Governor to prove his property and would then be very well satisfied that the Governor should detain them till the King of Spains Determination was known thereupon; But the said Governor Emanuel Falquez refused—That he the said Meyers was informed that the said Paschal Bonavitta was protected by the said Governor, that the abovementioned White who was with Paschal at the time he carried off the Negros from Tobago had no other Commission but the Copy of a Congress Commission in the said Whites handwriting, which had been used by three different Pirates, whose names were scratched out with a pen & another inserted & that the said Meyers was told this fact by a Person at Trinidada who had seen the Commission, that the said White is not the real Com­mander of the Schooner but kept on board by Paschal for a Cover That the said Mey­ers from his information & observation believes that the said Governor of Trinidada Emanuel Falquez, has in the whole transaction done everything in his power to pro­tect the said Paschal & to countenance him in his Piracy.—& that no Justice is to be ex­pected from the said Governor by any of His British Majestys subjects in a case of this nature.—That he believes the answer given by the said Governor to Lord Macartneys letter upon the subject,¹ is not only evasive, but absolutely false & contrary to the Truth.­ Sworn to before me this

24^th day of October 1777